of tantrums and stubborn idiots, and just a hint of sake.
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Uchiha Itachi & Haruno Sakura
Prompt: 06. bandage & emotions: 04. vengeful & 028. apologise
Word Count: 2647
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Rated for language.
Notes: Now that I've read it over, it's sorta crack-ish. Sortof. Written for 50_shinobi & 50scenes & mission_insane . Prompt tables are here & here & here.
-
If she hadn’t been so damn tired, she might not have doubted her twenty-twenty vision.
But as it were, a ten hour surgery and three hour shift before that had taken its toll on her, careful to drag itself sluggishly over her body until it had sucked out the last of her energy. She would’ve opted to simply crash on the small couch in her cramped office as she often did these days, except then the damned cat she had rescued the other day would end up half-dead, again, and that simply wouldn’t do. So she had begun the gruesome trek home at the ungodly hour of three in the fucking morning, and had almost made it there before the hallucinations started to settle in.
It had to be a hallucination - otherwise, the more insane explanation would be that the Uchiha Itachi was currently lying, curled into a compromising fetal position in the dark alley behind her building. She almost let out an exuberant laugh at that. Imagine that - Uchiha Itachi, as in Sasuke’s invincible, intimidating yet painfully handsome older brother, in such a situation! Delicate hands moved to rub sleepy eyes, but before she had taken even half a step, a pained groan, barely perceptible wafted to her ears.
If anything, that sobered her up. Emeralds blinking wide, she was beside her ‘hallucination’ as fast as her drained body would allow, peering curiously down at the injured body. There was no mistaking that hair, a black darker than the eclipsed night. Had she been completely within her right mind, she might not have swooped down so carelessly to begin assessing him for damage. But as it were, all she wanted to do was melt into her mountain of pillows until she could get up no more.
Without even thinking that this was Uchiha Itachi, and that he was still more powerful than she even in his injured sleep, her hand shot out to not-so-delicately grope him for injuries. It never reached her target, as before her fingers made contact with his battered body, a bloody hand shot out to snap her wrists in a death grip. An uncontrollable screech escaped her lips at that - how the hell did he still have such a strong grip when he was literally kissing death’s door?
“Itachi-san!” Sakura hissed, watching with bleary eyes as her hand turned white. “I’m a medic - Haruno Sakura! You need medical help.”
Even in the dark alley, the twin gleaming crimson orbs that pierced her were impossible to miss. The hand that was currently constricting her blood flow with an alarming force didn’t cease its grip, but after seconds of careful scrutiny, his hold on her loosened, but not completely. A relieved sigh almost fell from her lips as the blood began its slow circulation, but even in her sleep-deprived state, her professionalism had taken over once more. Using the hand that wasn’t currently locked in a death grip, she swept it over his body, her glimmering green chakra illuminating the lightless alley.
It didn’t take much probing for her to come to the simple conclusion that if they didn’t get to the hospital, fast, they were both royally screwed. Him, because he’d be beyond simply knocking at death’s door, and she, for letting Konoha’s most precious ANBU Captain die in her arms. Hissing a quiet curse that the wounded man didn’t quite catch, she attended to the most distressing injuries first - like his failing kidney, liver and lungs, as well as the ghastly sword wound that extended from his upper right rib to his left hip. Her direly depleted chakra couldn’t quite heal his injuries even to an adequately acceptable level, but they did buy her enough time to somehow transport the obviously unwilling captain to the hospital.
When she made an attempt to cradle his much-larger body into her thin arms, the offensive growl and glare that followed were enough evidence of his displeasure. The exasperated sigh that she had repressed before found its escape, and she fixed a pointed look at him. “Itachi-san. You need to go to the hospital - you will die otherwise. Now, you can either cooperate, or I will make you cooperate.”
The Uchiha had been attended by her in the hospital enough times to know her no-nonsense medic-nin voice. He was no stranger to the monstrous strength and immense medical abilities she possessed; she had trained with his team often enough, and he had seen her fight even more than that. He also knew that she told no empty threats. In his incapacitated state, he would be powerless if she really wanted to move him to the hospital by force, even if she was sorely low on chakra herself.
His hold on her loosened completely, and a satisfied smile curled at Sakura’s lips. Coming from an Uchiha, whether it be him, Sasuke or that irritatingly lovable Shisui, it was as big a surrender as she would get. With a silent heave, she lifted his battered body into his arms, holding him much like a groom would a bride. Her chakra immediately sought to alleviate the stress on her arms, but she suppressed the urge to do so, and directed the energy at her legs instead.
With a grim line set on her face, Sakura set out to the hospital, hoping against hope that she didn’t collapse before she got there.
x x x
The large industrial building that was Konoha’s General Hospital was a wondrous sight for sore eyes, once it finally focused into view.
She was sure she shocked more than one attending nurse at her grand entrance. Shiho, who had been with Sakura only twenty minutes prior nearly dropped her styrofoam coffee cup at the sight of her bloody supervisor, carrying none other than Uchiha Itachi in her arms. Even from behind the reception counter, she could see the blood still seeping from the wounds that the cerise haired genius hadn’t managed to close. She didn’t blame the woman - even Tsunade, who had been in the surgery for less time than Sakura had passed out sorely in the medic’s lounge.
“Sakura-san!” she gasped, moving with a kunoichi’s agility to shift the burden from the exhausted woman, albeit with no small amount of reluctance. Uchihas, especially the one in question, his younger brother and an always smiling Shisui were infamous in the hospital for their rather uncooperative habits with hospital personnel. Thankfully though, she saw that the elder Uchiha had already lost his battle with consciousness and would be putting up no struggle against the switch in person.
“Shiho-” said Sakura, her words barely discernable, lost as they were in the hoarseness of her voice. “Emergency, his broken ribs...lungs...kidney..”
And then she pitched forward, the darkness of sleep covering her in its welcoming arms.
x x x
“Sakura-chan!”
The woman in question blinked with a soft groan, the glare of early morning light filtering through the open windows. “Na...Naruto?”
“Mornin’, Sakura-chan!” he grinned down at her, waving a bag that looked suspiciously full of umemboshi in the air. “You need to stop working so hard!”
“You’re passing out too often, Sakura,” a third voice joined in, stern yet delectably smooth. She could nearly hear the frown in his voice, and hardly resisted the urge to roll her emeralds at the obsidian haired man. “This is the third time this month.”
Turning her head to him, she offered him her best scowl. “Well, Sasuke-kun. You should ask your dear aniki why I’m here right now.”
“Itachi?” Sasuke’s frown deepened, and Naruto’s sun-filled features mirrored his in seconds. “What does he have to do with this?”
“Actually, you too!” Sakura suddenly growled, what little pieces of playfulness left in her voice dissipating. “You Uchiha! You, Itachi and Shisui - the next time I see one of you lying half dead somewhere, still refusing to come to the damn hospital, I’m just going to leave you to die!”
“Sakura-”
“Yeah, that’ll teach you! I shouldn’t have saved your stupid brother-” she coughed, the aftermaths of her exhaustion catching up to her.
“Oh no. Sake!”
If Sasuke and Naruto had been any other men, especially considering that she was Sakura, monstrous strength extraordinaire, they would have frozen up completely, at a loss of what to do. Given, the two men in question were close to ice at the moment; Sakura in one of her mood swings was dangerous territory. However, years of training had forced them to become experts at the subject that was Sakura.
“Sakura-chan,” Naruto chuckled, barely hiding the nerves under the surface. The fist-sized bruise decorating his arm from a week ago had yet to regain its normal colouring, and Naruto was no masochist. “Stop hanging around baa-chan so much! Drinking sake at nine in the morning is no good for you!”
“Baka!” she wailed, sounding suspiciously close to tears. Perhaps, it was that time of month too - beside Naruto, Sasuke barely stifled a groan. “I don’t want to drink sake! You!” she turned suddenly, her distress from moments ago evaporating like nothing at all. Jabbing her finger with a ferocity unfit for a girl of her size, she turned her most venomous glare on the younger Uchiha. “You! Because of you stupid Uchiha, Sake is probably dead!”
Okay. So she wasn’t looking to drink sake, and sake was probably living, but isn’t anymore, and-
“I need to go home!” she sat up, ignoring the wave of vertigo that hit her. Still dizzy from her sudden switch in position, she stuck out a hand haphazardly. “Naruto. Give me that umemboshi. I’m hungry.”
Sasuke twitched. “Do I look like the dobe?”
“Huh?” she blinked her twin emeralds, still hazy from her forced slumber. “Oh. It’s you,” she huffed, turning her nose upwards. Sasuke half-expected her to stick her tongue out like she would when they were children, but instead, her stomps took her to a screeching halt in front of a sheepish-looking Naruto. With not even a thank you, she snatched the bag of food from Naruto’s slack fingers and stomped out of the room, phrases along the lines of stupid Uchiha, stupid Itachi, stupid Sasuke, drifting back to the two men still standing, frozen.
Had it not looked so ridiculous, Sasuke would’ve let out an even louder sigh of relief than Naruto at their unharmed state. Particularly because her newfound beef seemed to be with Uchihas - him, his aniki, and Shisui, to be precise. But considering the fact that they were teammates/family, and they pretty much spent every living moment together (except when they weren’t), Sasuke let the relief be washed over with wary anticipation.
The unwilling groan that escaped his lips was unstoppable; the next week was going to be hell.
-
“Here, kitty kitty kitty...” Sakura purred, the bowl of dangling tuna in her fingers swaying with her gesture.
When no comforting purrs of her beloved Sake reached her ears, Sakura slumped down to the floor, defeated. It wasn’t as if her apartment was big - it wasn’t. It was more like a closet compared to even Ino and Shikamaru’s moderately sized apartment, but her delightful little kitten had uncanny shinobi-like tendencies.
The first night Sakura had allowed it refuge in her apartment, it had taken her nearly half an hour to coax the furball from its hiding place. Since then, she had learned that the only way to persuade the little tabby into revealing itself from its unconventional hiding spaces was a bowl of tuna - not canned, but fresh tuna, and fresh tuna only. Any attempts to catch the darling in its previous hiding spots - behind her undisturbed mountain of thirteen pillows, in a slightly open kitchen drawer and etcetera proved to be unsuccessful at best. But the tuna trick - that always worked.
Which brought Sakura to three conclusions in a matter of seconds. One, that her little ball of sunshine was recently deceased in her absence, due to the stupidity of a certain Uchiha. Two, that Sakura would now have to spend the better part of the day doing a conclusive search of her apartment for a cat carcass, and that three, the Uchiha was going to fucking pay. How, she wasn’t so sure, since he was the Uchiha Itachi and every attempt up to now on Team Seven’s part to do him any damage has been completely unsuccessful, but she would find a way.
If not for her own pride, it was to avenge the death of her dearly beloved Sake.
Oh, there would be hell and beyond to pay.
-
“You!” she hissed, jabbing an accusatory finger towards the stoic man. “This is all your fault!”
A low whistle caught her attention to the left, and the image of an amused Genma only further fuelled her anger. “What are you laughing at, Shiranui? This is none of your business!”
“Feisty as always, Sakura,” he laughed, senbon jolted with the motion. “Any chance of me seeing that temper in bed again anytime soon?”
If his two teammates were surprised and/or doubtful at the infamously philandering man’s claim of having coaxed the equally notoriously picky Haruno Sakura into his bed, any doubts flew out the window at the indignant huff and barest of blushes spreading across her pretty face. “Maybe after another two years of begging, sunshine.”
Genma only laughed off the implied insult, but no one missed the hasty exit he made, accompanied only with a small wave goodbye. Shino, not being one for awkward social encounters sent a mental apology to his Captain before making a totally illegitimate excuse and poofing out without further ado.
Itachi, if anything, looked more amused now than anything. “Sakura-san,” he greeted. “I did not adequately thank you for the other nigh-”
“You still have the gall to mention that to me?” she screeched, a sign clear as anything to anyone remotely close to her that she was this close to going berserk. “You bastard!”
He remained his silence, eyebrows quirking at her unexplained behaviour.
“Sake! It’s all your fault!” she wailed. “It’s all your fault that she’s dead!”
“I beg your pardon?"
“My cat, asshole!” she hissed, jabbing her finger hard into his equally hard chest. She nearly flinched as her finger was repelled, but pain was lost to her anger. “Because I had to save your sorry ass, because you are too damn proud to just drag yourself to the god damn hospital when you are half dead, I couldn’t go home to feed Sake, so now she’s dead.”
To his merit, Itachi caught every single one of her jumbled words, lost as they were to her half-sobbing. “Your cat’s name is Sake?”
“Was! She’s dead now!”
If she had been expecting anything in return from him after her rampage, it was probably irrevocable bodily harm. The one thing she did not except however, was an apology of any sorts, knowing enough about the proud man to know that it would be a faraway, hopeless dream. Imagine her surprise then, when the amused smirk dropped from his face, a solemn, sorry expression replacing it.
“I apologize, Sakura-san, for the inconvenience I have caused you,” he tilted his head downwards slightly, and she nearly shivered at the deep rumble of his voice. “If there is anything I can do to repay your kindness, please, do not hesitate to ask.”
Sakura, by now, had a most curiously unattractive expression on her face, comprised of wide eyes and an equally wide open mouth.
Shocked at his uncharacteristic declaration, she stammered out a nearly incoherent ‘it’s okay’. In her haste and confusion, she missed the amused look now adorning his face again, as she beat a hasty retreat.
Once she was completely out of sight, Itachi let a quiet chuckle escape him. She was indeed unique in every sense of the way, and now, whether she liked it or not, she had his full attention.
tbc.
Characters: Uchiha Itachi & Haruno Sakura
Prompt: 06. bandage & emotions: 04. vengeful & 028. apologise
Word Count: 2647
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Rated for language.
Notes: Now that I've read it over, it's sorta crack-ish. Sortof. Written for 50_shinobi & 50scenes & mission_insane . Prompt tables are here & here & here.
-
If she hadn’t been so damn tired, she might not have doubted her twenty-twenty vision.
But as it were, a ten hour surgery and three hour shift before that had taken its toll on her, careful to drag itself sluggishly over her body until it had sucked out the last of her energy. She would’ve opted to simply crash on the small couch in her cramped office as she often did these days, except then the damned cat she had rescued the other day would end up half-dead, again, and that simply wouldn’t do. So she had begun the gruesome trek home at the ungodly hour of three in the fucking morning, and had almost made it there before the hallucinations started to settle in.
It had to be a hallucination - otherwise, the more insane explanation would be that the Uchiha Itachi was currently lying, curled into a compromising fetal position in the dark alley behind her building. She almost let out an exuberant laugh at that. Imagine that - Uchiha Itachi, as in Sasuke’s invincible, intimidating yet painfully handsome older brother, in such a situation! Delicate hands moved to rub sleepy eyes, but before she had taken even half a step, a pained groan, barely perceptible wafted to her ears.
If anything, that sobered her up. Emeralds blinking wide, she was beside her ‘hallucination’ as fast as her drained body would allow, peering curiously down at the injured body. There was no mistaking that hair, a black darker than the eclipsed night. Had she been completely within her right mind, she might not have swooped down so carelessly to begin assessing him for damage. But as it were, all she wanted to do was melt into her mountain of pillows until she could get up no more.
Without even thinking that this was Uchiha Itachi, and that he was still more powerful than she even in his injured sleep, her hand shot out to not-so-delicately grope him for injuries. It never reached her target, as before her fingers made contact with his battered body, a bloody hand shot out to snap her wrists in a death grip. An uncontrollable screech escaped her lips at that - how the hell did he still have such a strong grip when he was literally kissing death’s door?
“Itachi-san!” Sakura hissed, watching with bleary eyes as her hand turned white. “I’m a medic - Haruno Sakura! You need medical help.”
Even in the dark alley, the twin gleaming crimson orbs that pierced her were impossible to miss. The hand that was currently constricting her blood flow with an alarming force didn’t cease its grip, but after seconds of careful scrutiny, his hold on her loosened, but not completely. A relieved sigh almost fell from her lips as the blood began its slow circulation, but even in her sleep-deprived state, her professionalism had taken over once more. Using the hand that wasn’t currently locked in a death grip, she swept it over his body, her glimmering green chakra illuminating the lightless alley.
It didn’t take much probing for her to come to the simple conclusion that if they didn’t get to the hospital, fast, they were both royally screwed. Him, because he’d be beyond simply knocking at death’s door, and she, for letting Konoha’s most precious ANBU Captain die in her arms. Hissing a quiet curse that the wounded man didn’t quite catch, she attended to the most distressing injuries first - like his failing kidney, liver and lungs, as well as the ghastly sword wound that extended from his upper right rib to his left hip. Her direly depleted chakra couldn’t quite heal his injuries even to an adequately acceptable level, but they did buy her enough time to somehow transport the obviously unwilling captain to the hospital.
When she made an attempt to cradle his much-larger body into her thin arms, the offensive growl and glare that followed were enough evidence of his displeasure. The exasperated sigh that she had repressed before found its escape, and she fixed a pointed look at him. “Itachi-san. You need to go to the hospital - you will die otherwise. Now, you can either cooperate, or I will make you cooperate.”
The Uchiha had been attended by her in the hospital enough times to know her no-nonsense medic-nin voice. He was no stranger to the monstrous strength and immense medical abilities she possessed; she had trained with his team often enough, and he had seen her fight even more than that. He also knew that she told no empty threats. In his incapacitated state, he would be powerless if she really wanted to move him to the hospital by force, even if she was sorely low on chakra herself.
His hold on her loosened completely, and a satisfied smile curled at Sakura’s lips. Coming from an Uchiha, whether it be him, Sasuke or that irritatingly lovable Shisui, it was as big a surrender as she would get. With a silent heave, she lifted his battered body into his arms, holding him much like a groom would a bride. Her chakra immediately sought to alleviate the stress on her arms, but she suppressed the urge to do so, and directed the energy at her legs instead.
With a grim line set on her face, Sakura set out to the hospital, hoping against hope that she didn’t collapse before she got there.
x x x
The large industrial building that was Konoha’s General Hospital was a wondrous sight for sore eyes, once it finally focused into view.
She was sure she shocked more than one attending nurse at her grand entrance. Shiho, who had been with Sakura only twenty minutes prior nearly dropped her styrofoam coffee cup at the sight of her bloody supervisor, carrying none other than Uchiha Itachi in her arms. Even from behind the reception counter, she could see the blood still seeping from the wounds that the cerise haired genius hadn’t managed to close. She didn’t blame the woman - even Tsunade, who had been in the surgery for less time than Sakura had passed out sorely in the medic’s lounge.
“Sakura-san!” she gasped, moving with a kunoichi’s agility to shift the burden from the exhausted woman, albeit with no small amount of reluctance. Uchihas, especially the one in question, his younger brother and an always smiling Shisui were infamous in the hospital for their rather uncooperative habits with hospital personnel. Thankfully though, she saw that the elder Uchiha had already lost his battle with consciousness and would be putting up no struggle against the switch in person.
“Shiho-” said Sakura, her words barely discernable, lost as they were in the hoarseness of her voice. “Emergency, his broken ribs...lungs...kidney..”
And then she pitched forward, the darkness of sleep covering her in its welcoming arms.
x x x
“Sakura-chan!”
The woman in question blinked with a soft groan, the glare of early morning light filtering through the open windows. “Na...Naruto?”
“Mornin’, Sakura-chan!” he grinned down at her, waving a bag that looked suspiciously full of umemboshi in the air. “You need to stop working so hard!”
“You’re passing out too often, Sakura,” a third voice joined in, stern yet delectably smooth. She could nearly hear the frown in his voice, and hardly resisted the urge to roll her emeralds at the obsidian haired man. “This is the third time this month.”
Turning her head to him, she offered him her best scowl. “Well, Sasuke-kun. You should ask your dear aniki why I’m here right now.”
“Itachi?” Sasuke’s frown deepened, and Naruto’s sun-filled features mirrored his in seconds. “What does he have to do with this?”
“Actually, you too!” Sakura suddenly growled, what little pieces of playfulness left in her voice dissipating. “You Uchiha! You, Itachi and Shisui - the next time I see one of you lying half dead somewhere, still refusing to come to the damn hospital, I’m just going to leave you to die!”
“Sakura-”
“Yeah, that’ll teach you! I shouldn’t have saved your stupid brother-” she coughed, the aftermaths of her exhaustion catching up to her.
“Oh no. Sake!”
If Sasuke and Naruto had been any other men, especially considering that she was Sakura, monstrous strength extraordinaire, they would have frozen up completely, at a loss of what to do. Given, the two men in question were close to ice at the moment; Sakura in one of her mood swings was dangerous territory. However, years of training had forced them to become experts at the subject that was Sakura.
“Sakura-chan,” Naruto chuckled, barely hiding the nerves under the surface. The fist-sized bruise decorating his arm from a week ago had yet to regain its normal colouring, and Naruto was no masochist. “Stop hanging around baa-chan so much! Drinking sake at nine in the morning is no good for you!”
“Baka!” she wailed, sounding suspiciously close to tears. Perhaps, it was that time of month too - beside Naruto, Sasuke barely stifled a groan. “I don’t want to drink sake! You!” she turned suddenly, her distress from moments ago evaporating like nothing at all. Jabbing her finger with a ferocity unfit for a girl of her size, she turned her most venomous glare on the younger Uchiha. “You! Because of you stupid Uchiha, Sake is probably dead!”
Okay. So she wasn’t looking to drink sake, and sake was probably living, but isn’t anymore, and-
“I need to go home!” she sat up, ignoring the wave of vertigo that hit her. Still dizzy from her sudden switch in position, she stuck out a hand haphazardly. “Naruto. Give me that umemboshi. I’m hungry.”
Sasuke twitched. “Do I look like the dobe?”
“Huh?” she blinked her twin emeralds, still hazy from her forced slumber. “Oh. It’s you,” she huffed, turning her nose upwards. Sasuke half-expected her to stick her tongue out like she would when they were children, but instead, her stomps took her to a screeching halt in front of a sheepish-looking Naruto. With not even a thank you, she snatched the bag of food from Naruto’s slack fingers and stomped out of the room, phrases along the lines of stupid Uchiha, stupid Itachi, stupid Sasuke, drifting back to the two men still standing, frozen.
Had it not looked so ridiculous, Sasuke would’ve let out an even louder sigh of relief than Naruto at their unharmed state. Particularly because her newfound beef seemed to be with Uchihas - him, his aniki, and Shisui, to be precise. But considering the fact that they were teammates/family, and they pretty much spent every living moment together (except when they weren’t), Sasuke let the relief be washed over with wary anticipation.
The unwilling groan that escaped his lips was unstoppable; the next week was going to be hell.
-
“Here, kitty kitty kitty...” Sakura purred, the bowl of dangling tuna in her fingers swaying with her gesture.
When no comforting purrs of her beloved Sake reached her ears, Sakura slumped down to the floor, defeated. It wasn’t as if her apartment was big - it wasn’t. It was more like a closet compared to even Ino and Shikamaru’s moderately sized apartment, but her delightful little kitten had uncanny shinobi-like tendencies.
The first night Sakura had allowed it refuge in her apartment, it had taken her nearly half an hour to coax the furball from its hiding place. Since then, she had learned that the only way to persuade the little tabby into revealing itself from its unconventional hiding spaces was a bowl of tuna - not canned, but fresh tuna, and fresh tuna only. Any attempts to catch the darling in its previous hiding spots - behind her undisturbed mountain of thirteen pillows, in a slightly open kitchen drawer and etcetera proved to be unsuccessful at best. But the tuna trick - that always worked.
Which brought Sakura to three conclusions in a matter of seconds. One, that her little ball of sunshine was recently deceased in her absence, due to the stupidity of a certain Uchiha. Two, that Sakura would now have to spend the better part of the day doing a conclusive search of her apartment for a cat carcass, and that three, the Uchiha was going to fucking pay. How, she wasn’t so sure, since he was the Uchiha Itachi and every attempt up to now on Team Seven’s part to do him any damage has been completely unsuccessful, but she would find a way.
If not for her own pride, it was to avenge the death of her dearly beloved Sake.
Oh, there would be hell and beyond to pay.
-
“You!” she hissed, jabbing an accusatory finger towards the stoic man. “This is all your fault!”
A low whistle caught her attention to the left, and the image of an amused Genma only further fuelled her anger. “What are you laughing at, Shiranui? This is none of your business!”
“Feisty as always, Sakura,” he laughed, senbon jolted with the motion. “Any chance of me seeing that temper in bed again anytime soon?”
If his two teammates were surprised and/or doubtful at the infamously philandering man’s claim of having coaxed the equally notoriously picky Haruno Sakura into his bed, any doubts flew out the window at the indignant huff and barest of blushes spreading across her pretty face. “Maybe after another two years of begging, sunshine.”
Genma only laughed off the implied insult, but no one missed the hasty exit he made, accompanied only with a small wave goodbye. Shino, not being one for awkward social encounters sent a mental apology to his Captain before making a totally illegitimate excuse and poofing out without further ado.
Itachi, if anything, looked more amused now than anything. “Sakura-san,” he greeted. “I did not adequately thank you for the other nigh-”
“You still have the gall to mention that to me?” she screeched, a sign clear as anything to anyone remotely close to her that she was this close to going berserk. “You bastard!”
He remained his silence, eyebrows quirking at her unexplained behaviour.
“Sake! It’s all your fault!” she wailed. “It’s all your fault that she’s dead!”
“I beg your pardon?"
“My cat, asshole!” she hissed, jabbing her finger hard into his equally hard chest. She nearly flinched as her finger was repelled, but pain was lost to her anger. “Because I had to save your sorry ass, because you are too damn proud to just drag yourself to the god damn hospital when you are half dead, I couldn’t go home to feed Sake, so now she’s dead.”
To his merit, Itachi caught every single one of her jumbled words, lost as they were to her half-sobbing. “Your cat’s name is Sake?”
“Was! She’s dead now!”
If she had been expecting anything in return from him after her rampage, it was probably irrevocable bodily harm. The one thing she did not except however, was an apology of any sorts, knowing enough about the proud man to know that it would be a faraway, hopeless dream. Imagine her surprise then, when the amused smirk dropped from his face, a solemn, sorry expression replacing it.
“I apologize, Sakura-san, for the inconvenience I have caused you,” he tilted his head downwards slightly, and she nearly shivered at the deep rumble of his voice. “If there is anything I can do to repay your kindness, please, do not hesitate to ask.”
Sakura, by now, had a most curiously unattractive expression on her face, comprised of wide eyes and an equally wide open mouth.
Shocked at his uncharacteristic declaration, she stammered out a nearly incoherent ‘it’s okay’. In her haste and confusion, she missed the amused look now adorning his face again, as she beat a hasty retreat.
Once she was completely out of sight, Itachi let a quiet chuckle escape him. She was indeed unique in every sense of the way, and now, whether she liked it or not, she had his full attention.
tbc.